Grandmothers in housecoats and slippers (like mine) would make this salad and set it down on Sunday supper tables all across row houses in South Philly. Also known as a house salad in red-checkered-tablecloth Italian-American joints, it’s an assemblage that shouldn’t be over-thunk (that’s a word). You should just scoop this humble, simple salad from a big bowl onto your dirty plate so that it can mingle with the still-warm gravy left there from your pasta and meat course. The smell of the oregano (fresh in the summer, dried in the winter) in the salad dressing transports me to my mom’s Sunday supper table in a heartbeat. When my mom would prepare this salad, I always thought she was angry because she would smash the iceberg lettuce on the counter, stem down, to release the core; it used to scare me as a kid, but it’s a technique that works! While iceberg lettuce does not have any of the health benefits of darker, leafier greens, this salad holds a place in my heart for its old-school nostalgia and simplicity. I use sherry vinegar in all of my salad dressings, but my grandmother used distilled white vinegar, which gives it an extra acidic punch. I like to use the celery hearts for this salad, since it’s on those stalks that you’ll find the tender yellow leaves, which you should also use. Save the outer celery stalks for soups and stocks.
SERVES 6
1/2 cup [120 ml] extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
2 Tbsp dried oregano
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large head iceberg lettuce, outer leaves discarded, broken into small chunks
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced into rings
Several stalks celery, cut from the heart of the bunch (see headnote), thinly sliced, plus the leaves
1 cup [100 g] jarred or canned pimento-stuffed green olives, drained and thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled, ends trimmed, halved lengthwise, seeded, and sliced into 1/4 in [6 mm] thick half-moons
In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, oregano, a generous pinch of salt and pepper to taste and set aside. Or don’t. (See “Secret Salad Dressing Club,” below.)
Put the lettuce in a large serving bowl, add the onion, celery and celery leaves, olives, and cucumber and drizzle the dressing all over it. Use salad tongs to toss the salad and serve immediately, right out of the bowl and onto a dirty plate. (P.S. The only time we ate it out of an individual salad bowl was when my sister brought a boy home and my mom wanted to impress him.)
